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Monday, December 26, 2011

Letter writing and even sending cards seems to for the most part be a thing of the past. Even sadder is that a lot of people don't seem to even say thank you.

A far cry from when I grew up. Toys could not be played with or clothes worn until a thank you note had been written. Of course if it was a truly hideous piece of clothing I would drag my feet about writing the thank you note.

This year a neighbor surprised me with a gift card to a restaurant, I had a lovely dinner Christmas Eve with a friend breaking my rule of thank you notes or cards first. Also a friend's mother gave me reversible construction paper and I broke my rule there also. However, this is the card I came up with for the neighbor and will be making one for the friend's mother also.

This was a free file from My Scrap Chick. If you are not on their mailing list you may want to sign up for their weekly free file. Their files are in different formats including a pdf file so you don't need a cutting machine if you don't have one.

I decided I wanted to see how the construction paper cut out. The orange pattern is that paper it cut like a dream. I cut the cup out of foam. I used scrap card stock for the letters. I did have to switch to the SVG format as it would not cut out "thanks" right. After three tries I went in and looked at the points and figured I just didn't want to be editing points for hours. After the change to format set thanks to cut and it did it perfectly. Latte on the circle was suppose to be cut out but also could not get that to cut out so sketched it instead. Will see what happens with that for the next card as I changed format afterwards.

I hope that your holiday was special this year. Also I want to wish you a Happy New Year just in case I don't get around to posting before 2012, Do be sure to stop by in 2012,

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

You may have seen this title and wondered what in the world does toilet paper and rubber stamps have in common. Well I'm here to tell you today that they can be a inexpensive option to high priced embellishments. Besides that this is something that even the kids can do. If you are like me you have a bunch of rubber stamps languishing in a drawer. Of course unlike me you don't feel guilty about them taking up the space not earning their keep every time you open the drawer up.

Final layer with Forever Green Perfect Pearls brushed on while still wet.

I played around with a couple of stamps and finally decided to use my leaf block stamp. Block stamps may seem a little expensive at first glance but remember you are getting four stamps in one. Also they are great for making your own background paper and other stamping projects. I was lucky the day I bought mine they were having a sale on them. A good thing too because I liked both of the ones that were left in stock and was having a difficult time deciding which to buy.

The cheapest single ply toilet paper you can find works great for this project. However don't go wasting your gas just to buy a roll of single ply. If you have double ply it separates easily,.If you are using double ply you need four sheets and single ply eight sheets. You are going to make eight layers.

So lets get started. Place your stamp face side up on your work surface. Cover with single ply toilet paper. Dip a brush in water and use it to dampen the paper. I used a pouncing motion with the brush to get the paper in the cracks and crevices.(A stencil brush works great for this but if you don't have one a cheap paintbrush will work.) Don't worry if the paper should tear. I just pressed it down with my fingers after dampening them. I did as I added layers press the new one down with my hand and then used my brush. Dampen as needed.

This is layer one

I used the q tip seen in the picture to go around the edges of the branches. It is optional. As I was layering my paper I got to thinking that I did not really want the finished product to be white. I added Stream and Butterscotch alcohol inks to my water to make a green. If you are not worrying about the possibility of the colors fading over time you could use food colors to color your water. Of course using clear water is always an option.

Layer eight

Allow to dry overnight on your stamp. Make sure it is completely dry before taking it off your mold. Trust me on this one. Patience is a virtue in this case and you don't want to ruin your work even if it didn't take a lot of time. After you take it off your mold trim it.

If you don't like the white or want to highlight areas you can use glitter pens. You might want to decorate it with jewels or brads depending on the stamp you used. You can carefully wipe a chalk ink pad over it for a soft look or even wipe your chalks. Just be careful to not get your molded image too wet or you will lose the impression. Hmmm....wonder how I know that. LOL!

Now that my piece is dry I'm leaning towards trimming it and using the other side. The impression is crisper and I like the way the coloration turned out Either side you decide to use you will have a unique embellishment for your project. Also those stamps are doing double duty.

Thank you for stopping by and Happy Holidays no matter what holiday you celebrate.

Friday, December 16, 2011

This is a card I just finished. If the snowflake on the front looks familiar it is because this is the one that was on the box that I shared here. I just erased the box lines and drew a circle to put it in. I heat embossed it after my Cameo cut it out with Winter Wonderland embossing powder. Then the card base I heat embossed with Star Dust embossing powder. The snowflake was cut out of a scrap of white card stock and the card base was cut out of a scrap of card stock I had used for making the lid of a box. I decided to make a round card. I wanted something that was not a typical Christmas card. Simple but I think really elegant looking.I wish I could have gotten a better picture to really showcase the beauty of it.

With Silhouette machines and their software it is so easy to use up scraps of paper in projects, Also so easy to modify files or create your own. Now if that is not being frugal I don't know what is.

Thanks for taking the time during this busy time of the year to visit my site.

This is going to be a gift for a friend's mother. I wanted to make her something special because she is a special lady. This is just cut out from card stock using my Cameo.

The cutting file was designed by Doodlingdebbie. She is the administrator of the Silhouette Plus Forum and has the blog Paper Pulse. You will find both the forum and her blog listed on the right hand side.

For some reason two of the ends of the outer flourishes kept being cut off so I went and cut them all off. I traced around the image in order to get the backing piece. For some reason it did not end up being the exact size of the silhouette but I like the way it turned out. I did not look close at the file while gluing so the girl and boy are higher in the air and I had to do some changes of the layout. Still I think I like how it turned out.

I glued down the shapes with Elmers glue.It was a little tricky gluing the frame. Then brushed Elmers over everything. After it was totally dry I adhered rhinestones to the stars using my heat tool . I love using it and I know that the rocks or rhinestones will not be falling off of projects.

This is my first coat of the Dimensional Magic. As you can see it is milky looking. You can see in the picture there are a few places where the Dimensional Magic is not even. The piece was not completely flat so the product ran a little bit. (Note to self next time place wooden blocks if need be under to make it level as well as to keep it from sticking to surface. Luckily I was able to carefully with a knife get it unstuck and on a block of wood to finish drying.) I did after taking the picture get rid of the small bubbles that I had not noticed. After it dried for 24 hours I added a second coat. But this time a lighter coat.That is what I did on the key chain and it really made for a nice finish as it filled in places where I did not get an even coat.

This is what the finished brooch looks like. Sorry the picture does not do it justice. It is really awesome looking even though in one place the black from the card stock bled a little. I must not have gotten it covered with glue in that place. I just need to glue the pin back on and it will be done.

So here is a gift that cost me less than a dollar to make. Here again the drying time took longer than the actual making of it. I can't wait to try some other ideas using different papers and patterns.

Although I covered over the gems you could have the Dimensional Magic just go around them. You could add beads,charms and other embellishments to your project. Use your imagination and be creative. If you are using some sort of a card stock frame you could heat emboss the frame or use perhaps a metallic marker.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

I had today one of my why didn't I think of this sooner. I didn't have glitter or shimmer paper in the color I wanted for a project. I picked up my piece of dark blue card stock which was the color I wanted to use for a project and thought to myself I wonder what would happen if I used VersaMark watermark ink and some transparent heat embossing powder. I had bought Star Dust heat embossing powder and was not happy with it when I tried it out on different projects. I was making another snowflake box and decided to try it on the top portion. Wow! I love how it turned out when I added the heat. The picture doesn't do it justice. It looks like a fiery Australian opal.

A little bit of the embossing powder goes a long way and this is a great alternative to glitter paper. Also since you can do this after you cut out your shape you won't ruin your blade or cutting machine. Also you don't have to wait for glue to dry or worry about it flaking off.

I don't have good light for taking a picture of the box top but this card stock peeking through the snowflake is absolutely gorgeous. This is something you are going to want to try. It is so easy. Just stamp your pad onto your paper or card stock. Sprinkle your embossing powder and use a heat embossing tool.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

I found this cute box file at the Silhouette store for $.50 during their $.50 sale for every file. Well it is no longer $.50 but you can still get it for under $1. Right now it is on sale for $.75. I did go ahead and modify the file. I duplicated the top and then in my software released the compound path. Then I went and manually turned off all the cut lines for the snowflake. This way I was able to cut out a solid top which was then glued to the snowflake top. This made the top sturdier and I like the effect of the shimmer card stock I used shining through. This box is the perfect size for the Christmas tree pin I made as well as the brooch that I just finished.

I am thinking of stamping and heat embossing snowflakes on the base for the next one I make. As well as sprinkling glitter on the snowflake. Wouldn't this be cute to fill with some Christmas candy or cookies as a gift.

Come back Thursday to view the awesome brooch I made with Dimensional Magic and card stock. I am pleased with how nice it turned out. Thank you for stopping by.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

I love freebies and I love shabby chic as well as vintage. Millie Dee had this cute digital kit as a freebie I believe it was part of Scrapable Twelve Days Of Christmas. I think it was only available for one day as I've been unable to find where I found out about it.Thank you Millie.

You can easily do something similar with any kit you may have or find online. You can also mix and match elements from different kits. If you have not used digital kits check them out as there are a lot of really nice free ones out there in cyberspace.

It was easy to print the papers out on my printer. I did with the lightest paper randomly stamp with VersaMark ink and heat embossed snowflakes. on it. I have to have a touch of glitter. With my Studio software I re-sized the frame and snowman. Turned them into a Print and Cut file. Filling a page full of both of them. Doing this along with the printing and cutting took maybe five minutes. Then it is just assembling the card. I used my tape runner for that so no need to wait for glue to dry and everything is stuck down tight. The snowman could have been placed on the card with dimensional dots and could still be mailed without an extra charge.

I found the pre-scored card bases on sale in a pack of 350 of them for under $10. LOL! I though it was just assorted card stock. O.K. I know you are dying to see the card. TA DA!

If you don't have a digital cutter like the Silhouette Original,SD,or the new Cameo you may want to write Santa a letter asking for one. This is one of the best investments I have ever made. It makes so many crafting projects quick and easy. What I like about the Silhouette is there is no cartridges to buy and a lot of the files are free or you can even convert your own images into cutting files.

As the holidays are drawing closer I hope that you are finding time to create and finding joy in creating. Do come back Thursday or Friday as I should have an awesome brooch to share that is made with card stock and Dimensional Magic. LOL! That is if I can be patient while the Dimensional Magic dries.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Are you getting excited? Christmas is on its' way. I feel this year like I am one of Santa Elves. Just wish I looked better in leggings and a pointy hat.

I found at a dollar store a roll of green fun foam. What I am going to do with all of it I don't know but I thought when I saw it that it would be cute to make a Christmas tree pin out of it. With the software for my Silhouette I cut the Christmas tree out using the maximum settings and double cutting. Then brushed glue and sprinkled glitter on the two tree pieces. For the trunk I used a permanent marker to color it. I forgot to color it before I sprinkled my crystal glitter on it but like how it turned out. I was surprised that the little star cut out so nicely. I colored the rhinestones with permanent marker while they were still attached to their card. Make sure the ink is dry on your rhinestones before attaching to your tree. I also went and cut out of the card stock just the outline of the tree to give it more stability and the pin back is glued to that.

It actually takes longer for the glue to dry than to make the pin. I think for the next one I'll see what happens when I run my tree through my "Creative Station" to apply the glue. These pins are so easy to make that it would be a fun project to do with kids.

Have fun and remember to have fun with fun foam. There are so many cute pins or even toppers for hair clips you can make with fun foam. The possibilities are unlimited.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back for some more "Crafting The Frugal Way".

Took me a bit to figure out how to do this without the ink smearing. Everything I read said to use Mod Podge before using the Dimensional Magic. Well I looked at my bottle of Decoupage medium and it said it takes four weeks to cure. Ummmm.....I don't have four weeks. So after much playing I discovered that the best thing to do was to brush undiluted Elmer's all purpose glue on the card stock that I had printed my photo on. While playing I decided to see if I could rub Tim Holtz distress vintage ink over the photo after the glue had dried.

The upper left hand photo is what the photo of JR looked like before I applied the glue and vintage ink. Underneath is the photo attached to shimmer card stock cut out with a Spellbinder circle die. I ran it through my Creative Station for the adhesive but a tape runner will work. I discovered that glue will cause it to bleed when gluing to the card stock.. Then it is coated with the Dimensional Magic. The photo doesn't really do the Dimensional Magic justice as it looks like the photo is encased in glass.

I could just coat the back of the shimmer card stock and call it good but Buddy would feel unloved. The bottom right hand image is before with the glue dried on it. The picture below is after with Buddy now on the other side with ring for attaching keys. You could also use a small jump ring and make this as a necklace.

It is normal for the Dimensional Magic to be milky but it should dry clear. With a pin pop any bubbles or it will crack. I used a little on paper first to get rid of bubbles before applying to my project and only had a couple of tiny bubbles to pop. Also your project will crack if your glue is not completely dry before applying the Dimensional Magic. Do be patient and let the Dimensional Magic dry. Preferably for at least twenty four hours before coating the other side if using card stock as your base.. I did use a heat lamp to help it dry faster.Make sure it is in a draft free area while drying.

It costs me very little to make this. $4 for a 2 oz bottle of Dimensional Magic by Plaid and you just use a little. As well as what it cost for my card stock which was scraps. This would be a great way to use up those scraps of paper you have. You could adhere your papers to wood shapes. Just drill a hole. You can also buy jewelry and hair clip findings for this but we are talking cheap here. A craft place wanted as much as $12 for the metal tray pendant. The friend who I was going to make the necklace for so he can give to his mom said that is too much. So I decided to see if card stock would work as a base.

Well I'm off to making a small box to put this in. Hope things are going well with your making of gifts and holiday preparations. Thanks for stopping by and see you again soon.

Monday, December 5, 2011

I have looked high and low and the playing cards I was going to use making Christmas cards have disappeared. So it is off with another plan.

I bought some gesso to use on fabric so I could stamp it with regular inks. Well I never used it. Last night I decided to play. The card here I brushed the gesso on my card stock and used my swirling snow stamp in it. While it did give an interesting look and does look like snow especially after I sprinkled glitter in it while it was still wet. It is not what I was after. I thought it was interesting that in places the stamp picked up the gesso from the card stock leaving it to look more like little snow drifts.

His hat,boots,and mittens are cut out of foam. The scarf is knitted using craft thread. LOL! Next thing you know I'll be knitting doll clothes for the granddaughters. While visiting my sister I noticed she had some metal stencils so decided to see if I could emboss with them using my Big Shot. I discovered with the Merry Christmas it was de-embossing using the foil card stock that has a white backing. Oh the snowman has blue eyes because I colored with a permanent blue marker the rhinestones

I decided to see what happened if I mixed green soap dye in with gesso. My first experiment stamping on card stock was awful. It all ran together.This time I brushed the mixture with a foam brush onto my stamp. I found it worked best if I then stamped once on a paper towel and then stamped on my paper. For this one I used a paper that is designed to be used with ink. I like how this turned out even though it did curl a little bit. I definitely will keep this in mind for making my own background. I want to try with water color paper and other papers. The gesso is suppose to be a resist so later I'll do more playing.

Have you done any experimenting lately? What artist supplies have you used?

Don't know what I'll be experimenting with next so do come back and see. Hope you are having a fun week crafting and that your holiday plans are all coming together smoothly.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

When you are holiday crafting for gifts or ornaments don't forget Shrink Plastic. I made these cute ornaments/tags using the Frosted Ruff Shrinky Dink. $6 for ten sheet means it is less than $! for an ornament or tag and the scraps can be used for other projects.

I used an ink jet printer and the ink did not smear on the shrink plastic using the Ruff. Roughing up the white it smeared even after baking it. I have not tried the Inkjet Shrink Plastic as it is more expensive.

I took the Looney Tunes cutting files I had bought from the Silhouette Store and turned off the cut lines.Drew an ornament shape in the Silhouette software and added names. Be sure to mirror names and images. I cut these out with my Cameo doing a double cut. I have cut Shrink Plastic with my Silhouette SD but had to do it about four times. Do so at your own risk as I read about burning out the motor. If you don't have a cutter you can do your image in a graphic program, print and cut by hand. PaintNet is a free graphic program with lots of features if you do not have one.

I need to add the cord but have not decided what I want to use. I think these are adorable and will go perfect with the looney tunes tree lights that they have.

Shrinky Dink's website has free patterns and all kinds of ideas. So if you need quick easy gifts head on over for some neat ideas.

Hope your holiday plans are going smoothly and that you are having fun. I have one more gift that needs to get done as it needs to be mailed and then hopefully I'll get busy crafting cards. I have not forgotten about the Christmas cards using playing cards. LOL!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Christmas is fast approaching and I don't know about you but I'm busy wrapping presents and trying to get things ready to mail. Today while wrapping gifts for my granddaughters I used the last of this Disney Christmas wrapping paper. I was looking at the scraps and thinking what can I do with this. I ended up cutting with my die cut machine some of the images and then cutting scrap card stock. I glued the wrapping paper cutout to the card stock. Viola! an instant tag which matched the paper. Could also be used as an embellishment on a card or scrapbook page.

What do you use scrap wrapping paper for or do you just throw it out? Also do you use other pieces of scraps like the selvage on fabric for something? Are you a scrap hoarder? LOL! Time to confess.

Hope whatever you are doing to get ready for the holidays you are having fun. I'm off to finish packing a box for mailing.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

I saw this cute cube at the Silhouette store. *sigh* I didn't see the snowflake one until today and they are back at $.99 cents. I plan to make a bunch to use as a garland. A friend of mine showed me how it could also be used as a luminary. LOL! Now he wants me to make a bunch for him to give as gifts. I am going to use a tip for score lines found on the Silhouette Plus forum as I don't like the perforated lines.

Wouldn't these be cute on a Christmas tree with battery tea lights in them. The tea light in the picture actually changes color. I love it!

This one I lined with tissue paper and put a small gift in..The recipient can hang it on their tree and use it as an ornament for years to come.

If you don't have a machine that uses the Studio software you can probably find a template for the cube. You could then cut out your design with a craft knife. It will be a little more work.

Hope you enjoyed visiting my blog. Do come back and who knows I may eventually get around to making a Christmas card or two using playing cards to share with you. LOL!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Looking for stocking stuffers for a girl. If she has long hair she may like a button ponytail holder. They are really easy to make. Of course you can make these for yourself also.

Sorry I took pictures while I was making these but forgot to put the the memory card back in the camera. I have not figured out how to transfer pictures from the internal memory to my computer.

I kept looking at these buttons every time I went past them in WalMart wondering what I could do with them. Well today in WalMart I bought them. I already had the ponytail holders left over from my working days. My granddaughters have been wearing their hair in pigtails and braids so I thought these would be perfect.

To make these you will need shank buttons. The bigger the shank the easier it will be to pull the ponytail holder through it. Some of the buttons that came in the package the shanks were too small and I'll save those to use on cards or other projects. Making fabric covered buttons to use for this project would be cute. I also saw some beautiful metal shank buttons that I'm thinking of buying for myself.

This just happened to be the size I had of hair elastics but you could use whatever size you want. The tricky part depending on your shank size will be to thread the elastic through the shank. I used a large needle to help poke it through. Once you have it pulled through about halfway you are going to slip one end through the loop of the other end. You will pull it tight and you are done. Easy! My type of crafting.

Besides using buttons in sewing how do you use buttons? Do you make your own stocking stuffers? What type of things do you use for stocking stuffers?

I am going to try to find time this week to make Christmas cards using playing cards. So don't throw those deck of cards out that has missing cards. LOL! Do come back to see what I do with them.

Monday, November 28, 2011

One of the things I love to do is to make cards. My granddaughter loves popup cards so I was excited when in the Silhouette Shape store I found this snow flake popup card. It was on sale for $.50.

I take advantage of buying shapes when they are on sale for $.50 and this weekend all shapes were. If you are using a machine that uses the Studio format of files I encourage you to take advantage when there are sales.

Although the snowman I did for the front of the card was another Silhouette file you could find a similar one to cut out by hand if you don't have a machine.

For this snowman I used goggly eyes which are relatively inexpensive. I colored the boots,hat,branches and mittens with gel pens. For the mouth I cut it out and glued a scrap of ribbon on the wrong side. The buttons are I Rocks and you really get a lot of different sizes in a container.The ribbon on the hat is a scrap that was too short to make a bow. If the scarf looks familiar it is because I knitted it from leftover yarn from knitting a hat. Of course he had to have some glitter so that he looked more like he was made of snow. I doubt if I even have $.50 worth of supplies invested in this snowman.

It doesn't show up but the card base is a shimmer card stock. I buy the card stock pads when they are at least 20% off. I have large enough scraps left over for another project. It is always fun for me to see what I can do with left overs.

If you have priced elements for paper crafting you know that they are not cheap. So if you can make your own you will save money. I know I did making this card. Oh and the snowflakes on the front are the cutouts from inside.

What type of embellishments do you use? How would you deck out this snowman?

Wishing you a fun filled crafting day. Hope you are having fun getting ready for the holidays.

My tacky glue was all dried up but I discovered that Elmer's worked fine. I brushed it over my base coat and went and washed my brush. When I came back I brushed the top coat and used my embossing gun. In places some of the paint had started to separate before I even used my heat gun. I had one place where the paint really bubbled up but I carefully pushed it back down. This is not really a crackle finish. However I like the way it turned out. I used a scrap of watercolor paper to try this and it did not buckle at all. By the way when I do anything like this I have a fire extinguisher close by. I have never needed it but I would rather be safe than sorry.

If you try this let me know how it worked for you.. Stay tuned as there is more to come.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

I used to start in January making gifts for Christmas. I never realized how much these homemade gifts meant to people until recently.

I went to visit my son and he still has the rocking horse I had lovingly stained and coated with polyurethane when he was two years old. At the time the unfinished wooden horse cost a fortune. LOL! I had to borrow the money from my mother-in-law to buy it.

I decided since I retired to start making some gifts last month. In previous posts I showed the headbands I made as well as Fritzi the frog hair clip.

I also made this darling pendant for one of my granddaughters. I printed the image on frosted Shrink Plastic (print on the rough side) and cut it out with my Cameo but you could also cut something like this out by hand. Or if you have a die cut machine and a die you like you could use that. Just remember if there is words to mirror your image before printing. While still hot I sprinkled embossing powder on the printed side to give it shimmer. Under a dollar for the Shrink Plastic which I used the scraps after cutting out for snowflakes for the head band. I went to my local bead shop and the cord cost me a dollar and the owner put the cord on for me at no charge and made it so the cord can be adjusted different lengths.

I have a pompom left to make for this knitted hat for another granddaughter. It had been ages since I've done any knitting. Under $4 for the yarn and I have yarn left over to knit head bands and knit flowers for embellishments. I love the colors and the pattern that the variegated yarn created.

I have a lot more projects to do and hope that I can get the gifts to be mailed finished by next week. I would like to also get my cards made and mailed by the first.

I don't plan to do any shopping on Black Friday but on Saturday a place where I shop has a coupon for 30% off all my purchases including sale items. I have one gift to buy of something I can't make. Otherwise it will be a handmade Christmas.

Wishing you the best of luck if you go shopping Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Come back for an interesting painting technique tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

I have a confession to make. I do not like to wrap gifts. I think it is a holdover from the days when I was the official gift wrapper. Growing up I even ended up wrapping my own gifts and most of the time I knew out of all the gifts I wrapped which ones were for me.

Not only is the gift important but also is the presentation. At least I think so. Here is a box I made for my granddaughter's birthday. This was a free cutting file from the Silhouette store. I cut this using my Silhouette SD. The Angel on it is a Print and Cut. With the Silhouette machines and software you can make beautiful Print and Cuts using images you have. The flowers are ones I cut out to make my own patterned card stock with my faux glimmer mist. See previous post for details. The ribbon is from a Dollar Tree store. My favorite store to pick up ribbon inexpensively.

Here is the box I made for the headbands. It is the perfect size for putting four headbands in.

I cut this with my new Cameo by Sihouette but was having some problems with the mat slipping. It took me four pieces of card stock before I got the top and bottom cut out. I was afraid to get into my stash of fancy papers to make this box. By the way the Designer Edition of the software makes it so easy to use files in the SVG format. LOL! Just need to remember to turn on the cut lines.

Yes that ribbon is the same Dollar Tree ribbon I used for the ribbon roses on the headband. Just a different color. I love the glitter. Sigh! Alas they were out of it the other day when I went into the store. I glued on top of the ribbon a paper mat which I had cut out and put in my stash awhile back using my Silhouette SD machine. You could use a paper doily or if you have a cutting machine cut your own mat for on top. Of course I have to have a little bling and I also have fun playing with my I Rock tool. So rhinestones were added.

I am knitting a hat for my youngest granddaughter and I think this will be the perfect size for it. I want to see how my Cameo cuts out some wrapping paper I have as I think a box with the wrapping paper glued on it would be so cute.

I also made a box for a necklace I crafted for my oldest granddaughter out of shrink plastic. I could not get a good picture of the box itself without shadows and glare on a sticker I made decorating it but thought I would share Fritzi the frog.

I tied ribbon under the lid of the box so I could attach a hair clip to it. Fritzi the frog is a free SVG file from SVG Cuts. I re-sized him and cut him out of thin craft foam using my Cameo. Unfortunately I only had white foam I bought from Dollar Tree. So I smeared glue on the foam and sprinkled green glitter. The eyes are I Rock rhinestones.The foam melted a little bit while I was applying them so the eyes are a little sunken. I felt like he needed something so cut a piece of red ribbon into a tongue. It curled up a little bit using a pencil to curl it. Fritzi was attached to a hair clip from a package I bought at a Dollar Tree using E600 glue. The clip holds the name tag.

By the way if you do not have a cutting machine but would like to use SVG files as templates you can download Inkscape for free. Inkscape will open SVG files and you can either print from there or save them in another format like the png one.

Oh and if you have a Dollar Tree store or something similar you may be able to find a roll of foam. This is great for making your own hair clips,embellishments on cards and scrapbook pages,ornaments,etc.. Over the weekend I found a roll of green. Looking forward to making a pin out of it as well as some ornaments.

How do you embellish gifts? What type of decorations or extra little gifts do you add?

For those who celebrate Thanksgiving have a Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for visiting and be sure to come back.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

I know I said I was going to post about boxes but I do not have pictures yet and it has been too dark to take good pictures.

Thought I would share how to make your own glimmer mist. I tried doing what is in this video only to have the mister clog. Do not do this in the Ranger's mini misters. Also make sure you use the warm water as everything mixes up better.

I ended up buying some misters which artist use for painting and they worked a lot better and also larger size. Although this video talks about using Mod Podge I have done this without it. However, if you decide to add the Pearl Ex that is mentioned you will want to use the Mod Podge as it is a binder. Personally I prefer using Perfect Pearls which is cheaper and once mixed in water binds.

I usually paint this mixture on paper and cutouts instead of spraying. I have made some beautiful designs that way. If your projects curl you can either iron them flat after they dry or use a embossing gun while they are still wet.

If you don't want to mess with paint you can use water and Perfect Pearls. This is my preferred method for a spray. I have added soap dye for color because that is what I have left over from my soap making days and gotten some nice effects that way. I have used the Perfect Pearls by itself as well as mixed alcohol ink with the Perfect Pearls. I have not tried food coloring yet only because I don't have any but that might work also.

I buy the Perfect Pearls with a coupon and it is cheaper to buy it without the brushes and medium. That is if you can find it that way. Although the Perfect Pearls may seem to be expensive there is so much you can do with it. I will show some projects in a future post of some of the projects I have used Perfect Pearls with.

This is card stock that I put flower cutouts on and sprayed using my soap dye and Perfect Pearls in a mister. Sorry the picture doesn't really show the glimmer that much. Not only did I get a pretty piece of card stock but also got pretty flowers to use on projects. By the way I do my misting in a box in a bath tub easier to clean up the mess that way. LOL!

Have fun and let me know what you are going to do or have done with faux glimmer mist. If you have a recipe for faux glimmer mist I would love it if you would share it.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

I was looking for inexpensive gifts which were also lightweight to send to my eldest granddaughter. I discovered that headbands are still in fashion. I surfed the web looking at different designs and pricing them. That is when I decided to make my own. So it was off to doing more surfing for DIY headbands. Then it was off to a dollar store. I bought six narrow fabric covered headbands for $1. Then using what I had on hand already made the headbands.

If you are looking for a gift for a girl don't forget that headbands are in. Which headband are you going to make? Are you going to make a romantic vintage looking one or perhaps a seasonal one? Are you going to make a headband for yourself?

These are just a few ideas. If you have a headband you don't like or find a plastic one inexpensive but you don't like color you can change it. Wrap the headband with ribbon or following the directions in "The Complete Photo Guide to Ribbon Crafts" you can create a fabulous woven headband. This book also has some other wonderful ideas for using ribbon. Check it out from your public library.

Below is how I made these headbands. I will try to find links to add here for making the lace flowers and ribbon roses or post in another post instructions for them.

The black headband has a lace flower. Lace flowers are easy to make and there are several sites with instructions for making them. It is topped with a button with a jewel glued on top.

For the blue headband I took wide sheer wire ribbon I bought at a dollar store and cut in half approximately 12" lengths.I then made ribbon roses. So each length of ribbon you can make two roses. There are several sites with tutorials for making ribbon roses if you don't know how. Believe me they are really easy to make and can even be made out of crepe paper or strips of paper for other projects.

The braided one was the most fun to make. I took three different colors of narrow ribbon which I had bought for fifty cents a roll. I cut a little over a yard as I wanted my granddaughter to be able to wear the headband on her forehead and tie it in back if she wanted. I pinned the ribbon to a scrap of Styrofoam to braid it. Cut the ribbon 6" longer than you want the finished braid to be.

The white headband has shrink plastic snowflakes glued on it. I bought over the summer Tim Holtz's Winter Wonderland die at a sidewalk sale for $5. I used scraps of shrink plastic from other projects. Using my I Rock tool I adhered the rhinestones.

Come back next week and I'll post a box which is the perfect size for these headbands. Of course the box can also be used for other things. LOL!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Welcome to Crafting The Frugal Way. This is not only my first post but also my first blog so I hope you will bear with me as I learn the ropes.

My goal for this blog is to share ideas for crafting without spending a lot of money. I will admit that I have spent a lot of money on certain tools but they earn their keep. I will also admit that I have wasted money either on buying tools on impulse or not doing the research on what I'm buying.

Although the title is Crafting The Frugal Way there may occasionally slip in a post not related to crafting but frugal nonetheless.

I've been known to make every penny squeal. Just ask my family and they'll tell you it is true. LOL!

Stayed tuned because with Christmas just around the corner I hope to share some frugal ideas with you. Also I would love to read some of your frugal Holiday ideas. What are some of the frugal gifts that you make to give?